San Bruno Primate Shelter

The San Bruno Primate Shelter (SBPS) was an ape-house located in San Francisco. It was owned by John Landon, a seemingly cool-headed businessman. His son, Dodge, was cruel and sadistic towards the ape residents for no apparent reason, shocking them with an electric cattle prod, he rudely and disrespectfully calling them "Stupid monkeys" and "Lazy baboons" and hosing various apes with a high-powered fire hose and without any remorse. Another employee, Rodney, was kinder to the inmates.

Contents

Play area: A large enclosure with some jungle-like design and various enrichments inside, such as toys, swings and an artificial tree, in which the apes could spend limited time.

Cage room: A prison-like holding area for individual apes.

Landon's office: John Landon's place of work that also featured a one-ape holding pen for visitors.

Buck's cage: A large single cage in the play area made individually for the large, aggressive gorillaBuck.

Infirmary: A small recovery room where apes are treated for illness or after they're shot at with the tranquillizer gun. Like the play area it has a jungle design that is like the natural habitat for apes.

it is not known when the shelter was opened but it was used to house many apes living in San Francisco whether they were behaved or highly hostile to the community. The apes there mainly consist of chimpanzees who were headed by a violent chimp named Rocket, but two of the apes are a friendly orangutan named Maurice and a kind but lonely gorilla named Buck. The apes at the shelter were treated horribly by the shelter guard Dodge Landon who as the son of the boss didn't waste a moment to degrade or torment the apes either with his cattle prod, water hose or his verbal abuse. Some of the apes were transferred to the Gen-Sys Laboratories in order to be used for experimental test and it appears that the shelter and labs have been in business for a long while.

Caesar was taken to the facility after an attack on a neighbour, Hunsiker. He was mistreated by both the primates headed by Rocket and by the human caretaker Dodge, and observed that both species were brutal and different than he had previously thought. When Will Rodman came to visit Caesar asked if he can return home, but Will refused as there was no way he could get him out at the time. Embittered, Caesar started to feel disappointed as he struggle to adapt to life in the horrible shelter but his spirits were lifted when he made friends with the kind orangutan Maurice who secretly knew sign language as well. Afterwards, Caesar saw Dodge and his father tranquillize a group of chimps who were arranged to be taken from the shelter to the Gen-Sys Laboratories as experimental test subjects which angered him as they were his own people. Soon Caesar started to adjust to life in the shelter as he began teaching himself to fight to protect himself from any forms of danger. Caesar then took notice of a cage in play area housing a large gorilla named Buck who was attempting to escape by banging on the door repeatedly but to no such luck as he still remained trapped. Later, Dodge brought a group of humans to the shelter for a tour and while doing so he both ridiculed and tortured the apes as show of enjoyment to his friends. The resentful Caesar lure and stole a flick-knife from one of Dodge's friends to use for other purposes one of which was to escape. At night, he made a makeshift trick lock tool to break out of his cage and head to the play den where he managed to open Buck's cage causing the gorilla to abruptly wake up and try to attack him. However, Buck noticed his cage was opened and though hesitant he soon dashed out of his cage where he played with all the toys the other apes played with over the last few years. Buck was grateful to Caesar for freeing him and became another close friend to Caesar who came up with a way for Buck to repay him by using his strength for a task: overthrow Rocket.

Caesar, proving himself to be the new alpha of the shelter refused to return with his human father having adjusted to life as a leader but knew it was not enough and desired to bring the apes together in order for them to be strong but was told by Maurice the other apes were too stupid to unite. Escaping at night, Caesar returned to Will's house and stole three canisters containing the new strain of the ALZ-113 "cure", and greatly increased his and his comrade's intelligence, and claimed dominance over the primates. The following morning, Caesar examine the other apes' and saw that their eyes had turned green, signifying their altered state and mental capacity. When Dodge found Caesar in the play area where he was not meant to be, he tried to electrocute Caesar, who after talking beat him down and locked him in a cage. The remaining guard Rodney was beaten but placed gently in a cage for being more kinder to the apes than Dodge. In the wake of their liberation dodge awoke and after trying to attack, was hosed by Caesar while his electric cattle-prod was still on. Electrocuted, Dodge died much to Rodney and Caesar's utter horror. Caesar then released Buck from his cage and the new-found ape army escaped the shelter and headed for the city to free all their captive brethren.

Rodney was left in the cage until morning where he was found by Will and Caroline and told them Caesar spoke. The couple were confused by Rodney's words as they were more focused on the dead body of Dodge Landon that was laying on the ground and so the police were called about the situation. The police and John Landon arrived on the scene; after reviewing the tape and seeing Dodge's death by Caesar's hand John Landon was left to mourn the death of his son.

Each cage in the shelter bore the name of its inmate. The name 'Caesar' is seen printed on the chimp's cage within minutes of his arrival, but already looks weathered and worn.

In an earlier version of the script, the San Bruno Primate Shelter was known simply as 'The Ranch', and also had horses kept on the grounds. 'Dr. Molly Stewart' (Caroline Aranha) worked at the Ranch on a voluntary basis.

The shelter was based on the Black Beauty Ranch in Athens, Texas, where famous chimp test subject Nim Chimpsky spent his final years.[1]

The shelter was also similar to the human zoo from the original film.

The human zoo from 1968's Planet of the Apes was Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver's inspiration for this shelter. Scenes like the one where Dodge Landon sprays Caesar with a fire house were directly inspired by scenes from the original movie.